After seeing a fight vanish before his eyes, Phillipe Nover realized he was doing things the wrong way.

On Sept. 16, the day he was supposed to fight Sam Stout at UFC Fight Night 19 in Oklahoma City, state athletic commission officials scratched Nover from the card.

Commission officials said “The Ultimate Fighter 8″ runner-up suffered a seizure; Nover said he merely fainted. He had done so once before; on his first day of filming for “TUF 8,” he famously passed out in the lineup, which caused an immediate stir among his castmates. He said he had merely overheated in the Las Vegas swelter.

Regardless of what really happened those times, September was a wake-up call.

First, Nover needed to change up his training environment. Because MMA is illegal in New York, access to a full-size octagon is unheard of, especially in Brooklyn, where Nover resides. Most fighters string disciplines together in a variety of small spaces and make do with what they can.

He sought new trainers in wrestling, boxing and Muay Thai. He tried to log most of his hours with other professional fighters. He found a cage.

Second, a simple but difficult task: He needed to start eating right. Nover consulted with a nutritionist after the Emerson incident and discovered he was not only at a competitive disadvantage, but he was also putting himself at risk for another fainting spell.

“Before, I was really focused on training on an empty stomach,” Nover said. “I thought I was doing the right thing by being light on my toes, but the fact was I needed to train with not a heavy stomach but something to burn.”

After weigh-ins, Nover used to gorge himself on whatever he could get his hands on – except starchy carbs such as pasta and pretzels, which he doesn’t like – and put up with the subsequent stomachache.

Now, he eats a big breakfast every morning to fuel his daily training sessions and has a plan when he steps off the scale next Saturday: pretzels and a bowl of pasta.

“That’s progress right there,” Nover said.

Nover recently completed his bachelor’s degree in nursing and still works one to two times per week as a nurse. But the outcome of his upcoming fight will play a big part in whether he goes deeper into work and family, or if he pursues the life of professional fighter.

He has trained at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas and enjoyed rubbing elbows with some of the sport’s elite fighters.

“When I wake up on Sunday morning after I beat Rob Emerson, I’m going to sit back for a couple days and think things through,” Nover said. “There’s even thoughts in my mind. ‘Hey, maybe you should move to Vegas. That’s fight central. Maybe you should travel.'”

On the other hand, Nover could be poised to capitalize if MMA is legalized in New York.

“I might have to put my name out there,” he said. “That would be great if I can get the cage and the pro fighters could come to me.”

Before he could sign the contract to face Emerson, Nover had to be cleared medically by a neurologist and other health professionals. He received a clean bill of health.

“I’m 100 percent safe for combat sports,” he said.

Now, it’s off to the deep end of the lightweight division.

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Steven Marrocco is a staff reporter for MMAjunkie.com and an MMA contributor for The Vancouver Sun.